


The End and The Beginning

by cottoncandyboys (mik0rin)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sports, M/M, This is actually just Baekhyun being angsty, Volleyball
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 06:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9165436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mik0rin/pseuds/cottoncandyboys
Summary: Byun Baekhyun is won by his height and has to deal with it on his new team.





	

**Author's Note:**

> hahaha so this was written at the beginning of last year (for the baekchen fest 'daelightsaving') and i thought it was awful until i reread it and realized it's not that bad so here we are
> 
> OH and this was written for my dear friend yuri <33
> 
> title taken from haikyuu!!’s first episode lol

When Baekhyun pushed the iron door that lead him to the court, he did feel the smell of air salonpas that his teammates mention so much, he heard the balls bouncing against the walls, the flump of skin against leather and turned his head just in time to see one of these balls coming for his face, allowing him to move to the side and avoid an accident.

"My bad," someone shouted and Baekhyun took the ball that almost hit him and threw it towards its owner, the boy bowed and went back to where he was. Baekhyun sighed and felt an arm around his shoulders.

Time to play.

 

 

If in middle school Baekhyun was the superstar of the volleyball team, the ace, the best wing spiker the team had in the past four years, of course it wouldn't be different once he entered high school.

With that whole monologue playing inside his head, Baekhyun slid open the door to the gymnasium, it was the usual: a bunch of boys running laps around the court, balls flying everywhere and shouts echoing inside the place, from the coach to the players and anyone else who was there.

“Excuse me,” said a boy from behind him and Baekhyun jumped to the side, startled, letting him pass and bowing slightly just in time to notice that said boy didn’t care and ran to throw his bag on a bench and warm up like the others.

 _What should I do?_ Baekhyun thought to himself and let out a shaky breath, playing with his fingers and shifting his gaze from side to side. He spotted the coach and walked towards him, careful not to get hit or in the way.

“Hello,” he said to the man - a very tall man who had a frown on his relatively soft features - and prayed that he wasn’t bothering anyone. “I’m here in hopes of joining the volleyball team.”

The man let go of the whistle and looked at him, Baekhyun brought his legs together and stood straight, holding his breath and quickly releasing it through his nose.

“What can you do to make this team better?” Baekhyun was asked and quickly sucked in a lungful of air.

Baekhyun felt like he swung his arm to score and instead of hitting the ball, he only hit the air when he couldn’t find words to reply such an easy question.

 

 

“Look, it’s not the end of the world,” said one of Baekhyun’s new teammates, after coach Jung told him that he could not be a wing spiker because he didn’t have the height to face his opponents - and probably didn’t have enough strength as well -, Baekhyun thought of himself as a loser, underappreciated and underestimated, to cut it short: Baekhyun did not gain the position he had during his middle school life, instead, there he was, being comforted by someone he barely knew. “I’m Jongdae by the way, I hope you’ll like being in our team.”

“As a libero?” Baekhyun snorted and Jongdae brought his hands in front of his body, showing that Baekhyun should calm down, he complied and raked his fingers through his dark brown locks with an exasperated sigh. “I don’t think so? I have played as a wing spiker ever since I’ve started volleyball. I don’t think i can or _want_ to play any other position.”

“I know I know I know,” Jongdae repeated and Baekhyun rolled his eyes and how calm he looked. “But you gotta understand that you’re not where you used to be and that you have to play this team’s rules if you want to be here, we don’t have enough members, most positions are taken, we even have substitute players for them, but we don’t have a proper libero, I know Yixing is very happy to give it to you.”

“I don’t want a position that someone happily gives away,” Baekhyun stomped his foot and knocked a few water bottles down, he suddenly heard the door of a locker being slammed and an angry looking boy burning a hole on his face.

“You stop complaining and get your ass outside,” the boy said and then left, Baekhyun stared wide eyed at where he was and then looked at Jongdae and then back at the door he used to leave the place, the boy’s head appeared at the door again and he pointed two fingers at them. “We’ll be locking the court and if you don’t get the fuck out, you’re gonna be here until morning practice.”

“Kyungsoo is usually temperamental,” Jongdae said when he was finally gone. “But mostly because he doesn’t like when people decide to argue inside the locker rooms.”

“That makes no sense,” Baekhyun tried to reason.

Jongdae shrugged and threw a towel at Baekhyun’s face.

“Kyungsoo makes no sense but here we are. Let’s go.”

 

 

Baekhyun winced in pain when the ball hit his arms and flew to the side, he threw his body on the floor and groaned in frustration. He had been there for hours, trying to perform his function properly, since practice started and now when everybody already left he still wasn’t able to do it.

He pushed his body up and ran around the court, collecting the balls he threw around and putting them into the storage room for the sports equipment, it was getting dark and he had to go home before his mother decided to call and yell at him for being late for dinner;

 

 

“We’re switching liberos,” coach Jung yelled. “Call in Yixing, right _now_!”

Baekhyun angrily took off his wristband and threw it to the bench, someone tried to give him a towel but he refused to take it and pushed it back to its owner. Chanyeol, Sehun and Jongin watched him from the court with worried looks on but did nothing because they were in the middle of a game.

Frustration took over Baekhyun and he missed the look Jongdae gave him - regretful that he couldn’t go over and talk to his teammate.

 

 

“I’m not doing it,” Baekhyun argued, he was scolded by the coach, everybody remained silent the whole time and he was already disheartened. “I can’t do it, Jongdae, I _can’t_.”

“Yes, you can,” Jongdae replied and Baekhyun sighed, sitting down on the bleachers and covering his face with his hands. “I’ve seen you practicing until late, you know you can do it, maybe you just need some help.”

“You’ve seen _me_? What? How?” he asked confused, Baekhyun didn’t remember seeing anyone around on the days he decided to stay after practice, much less Jongdae himself.

“I’m class president, sometimes I have to stay around to fulfill some of my duties and since we have practice right after class, I have to make up for it after practice,” Jongdae explained. “Hey, we’re in the same class and you don’t know I am the class president?”

“I don’t pay attention to class,” Baekhyun said back and Jongdae was the confused one this time. “Besides, this has nothing to do with it, I just didn’t label you as the responsible type.”

“Joonmyun said I am going to be the next captain,” Jongdae said baffled, Baekhyun stared at him, eyebrows so high that they ended up hidden under his bangs. “Stop giving me this look that says that I am not responsible at all.”

“You’re too fun and your laugh is way too loud,” Baekhyun explained, Jongdae crossed his arms and tried to understand what he meant with that. “I never considered this possibility.”

“Baekhyun,” Jongdae called, serious. “Let’s stop avoiding the important topic,” he scooted closer and Baekhyun looked away. “I don’t think you had to be replaced earlier because you’re bad.”

“Oh yeah, of course not,” Baekhyun raised his voice and threw his arms up in the air. “I was magnific, that’s why coach Jung looked so angry when he put Yixing to fill in my place.”

Jongdae got up and Baekhyun had to crane his neck in order to keep the eye contact.

“You need to stop hating your position, if you practice, practice and practice but you keep telling yourself that you’d rather play as the wing spiker, of course you won’t be a good libero,” Jongdae said as he paced from side to side, Baekhyun hung his head low and fisted the hem of his shirt, feeling his nails digging at the palm of his hand. “I can help you with practice.”

“Huh?” Baekhyun let out when he looked up at Jongdae once again. “You? Why?”

The sound of Jongdae’s soft footsteps stopped and he gave out a loud laugh, Baekhyun started at him, puzzled.

“Because, even if I am a setter now,” he started. “It doesn’t mean that I have always been one, you know, I used to be a libero, but we needed a setter back in middle school and I ended up filling in that position and I am the _brain_ of the team, apparently, so I never thought of going back to being a libero. You don’t have to follow my words religiously, but just keep in mind that you’re not the only one who had to give up something important in order to play volleyball.”

The atmosphere was silent, just the sound of their breathing and the whistling of the wind outside. Baekhyun rubbed his hands together and got up, Jongdae took a step aside and watched as he slowly gathered his belongings - only his backpack and a water bottle.

“Hey,” he cried and Baekhyun turned to stare at him. “The boys are going to have dinner at a restaurant nearby, you know, Chanyeol, Sehun, Jongin, Joonmyun and everyone else, wanna come with us?”

Baekhyun thought it over for a minute, Jongdae looking at him with hope in his eyes.

“Sure,” he finally replied, a small smile spreading on his lips. “And about practicing, I don’t think I mind you helping me a little. If it’s for the team, I can try to improve.”

“That’s the spirit,” Jongdae said, already skipping his way to Baekhyun and clasping a hand on his shoulder. “Now let’s get going before I get scolded for getting there late. I hope you like Chinese food, because there’s this really awesome restaurant we usually go to and they have a divine mapo tofu in the menu.”

Baekhyun laughed as he walked, thinking about the food - yes, he loved Chinese food - and Jongdae’s offer.

“Sweet,” he said and Jongdae gave him one big smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading \o/


End file.
